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In Progress Adventures in Budget Restoration: 1978 Bally PARAGON

Just checking into the grit. There's loads listed on eBay for blasting/sanding/tumbling, usually around £8-10 for 5kg plus £5-6 postage. But you can also buy crushed walnut as a pet supply. It's used in reptile vivariums for keeping snakes and lizards which means you should be able to easily find it at you local pet shop.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Purrfect-Pet-Products-Ground-Walnut-Grit-5-Litre-/291174548445

As it's for pets it's untreated so you have to add your own polish if you want to, e.g., Brasso.

You can also use crushed corn cob which is less aggressive than walnut and gives a better shine. In the world of "reloading" (no surprise it's a major US pastime of cleaning and re-using gun cartridges...) corn cob is used to polish cases than are either new or only fired once since their last clean. Walnut is used to clean cases that have been reloaded several times or on "range pickings" that have tarnished heavily from being left outside.

So, for me it looks as though walnut is the way to go for the initial heavy-duty cleaning and I'll do the job of corn cob manually with my Dremel. But better ;)
 
Carl Spiby said:
One thing I will say, drape a cloth over the top else you'll have dust everywhere.
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I think you can get a solid top for the Lyman, but a cloth is much handier! It's only slotted for quick straining of gun cases but run times are shorted because they're only cleaning softer brass, e.g., 90 minutes to 3-4 hours. Quite a few pinball parts (washers, screws, pins, etc.,) would go straight through it. Steel parts need longer - my mate runs it for a couple of days!
 
I heard that sticking an old used tumble drying sheet in with the mix is supposed to help.... it seemed to, tho i cant be sure...
 
Paul said:
I heard that sticking an old used tumble drying sheet in with the mix is supposed to help.... it seemed to, tho i cant be sure...
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I'd like to know the science behind that one. I'm going to google tumble dryer sheets and see what I can find out :)
 
Walnut media with Autosol is what I use and it's worked really well......and as Carl says, get yourself a magnet :)
 
Well, the mighty google has told me that dryer sheets are positivity charged and good at picking up dust.

Apparently you can also wipe them on surfaces to make them anti-static and also use them to keep insects away
 
Asda had run out of their own brand tumble dryer sheets (reasonably price at 92p) but I passed on the fancy Lenor-branded pack at £3.10. £3.10? Seriously? For a packet of ruddy scented plastic tissues? No wonder the country's in crushing debt. Of all the ruddy pointless cr@p to spend your money on... tumble drier sheets. As if tumble drying wasn't expensive enough already. The best way to make your clothes smell nice is to wash them and hang them on the line!

Ooops... sorry. Rant over.

Picking up the tumbler today though... :D
 
Bottoms :(

image.jpg

Just finished polishing the first of the saucer kicker base plates and one the "teeth" has snapped off! I can't see and easy way to mend as is spot welded on?

I'll have to see if I can salvage one from the rusty junk PF...

Drat, drat and double drat!
 
Maybe I can cold chisel the "teeth" off the rusty one and attach it to the nice base-plate using a tiny countersunk machine bolt?

Or maybe my brother-in-law could do some tiny spot welds? They'd be on the underside and not visible inside the saucer.
 
Yeah, it wouldn't be too pretty. And only worth it if it was absolutely the last one ever or something. Would probably be easier to fabricate one from scratch!
 
Nedreud said:
Yep. If it had to be rescued it would be a grinding job to bare metal and then re-plated with zinc or chrome.
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I wouldn't grind as you've lose too much of the metal as you would rust.

Get the rust off first using a rust remover (23p vingear from asda) preferably in a ultrasonic bath.

Then you can see the damage and where is best to go..... shiny-ness will probably not be an option :(
 
I had a word with my brother-in-law. He reckons he'd be able to pop a couple of tiny spot welds on the underside to fix and brace the broken tooth into position. As this won't be visible from the top it's what I'll try first.

Plan B will be to remove the teeth from the rusty kicker. It's a tiny piece and wouldn't take long to clean up. I've got some "chrome" spray paint to make it look better and stop going rusty. Could either weld or bolt in position.

Plan C buy one on eBay. Plenty from the US. Found one for $17.99 plus about $16 shipping, so £20-21 all told. Just tips the £15 import tax limit and I just know I'll get another 20% (£4) plus £9 fee added on top which would make it nearly £35. That's quite a lot.

We shall see... I'm not that desperate yet and BUDGET is the order of the day unless all else fails :p
 
That will polish out. :rolleyes:
What role does the tooth perform, can it be achieved in any other way.
 
Calimori said:
That will polish out. :rolleyes:
What role does the tooth perform, can it be achieved in any other way.
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As I see it the pair of teeth are used to align the ball with the kicker arm when it's fallen into the saucer/eject-hole. They are angled so the ball slides down them until the other side rests on the opposite side of the hole, right where the kicker arm is. It would work with them but the ball would be in a different position each time and therefore the eject direction would be a bit random.

Not a biggie; just a bit irksome it fell off! Metal is quite thin and I guess after 35 years of pinball it had some metal fatigue in the bend.

mirror2.ipdb.org_images_4501_image_30.jpg
http://www.ipdb.org/showpic.pl?id=4501&picno=25060
 
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